Some years into the future
by sonofkrypton
Summary: This is my take on the Superman movie


The city of Metropolis is enveloped in a dark shroud as the gloom of an oncoming rain showers looms over the horizon. Despite it being noontime, streetlights are turned on as the darkness is unpierced by any form of light from the sun, covered by the dark clouds.  
  
Clark alights from the taxi cab that he had ridden. He was in Metropolis to apply for a job at the Daily Planet, the most prestigious newspaper on this side of the Earth. After finishing a four-year Journalism course at the New Jersey University for Journalism in two years and receiving major honors, Clark thought that it was time for him to follow his dream and finally apply at the Planet. I might even meet Chloe, thought the young man, thinking of his friend from his hometown of Smallville. She was working as an intern at the Daily Planet. Chloe Sullivan, the girl who started Clark on the journalism track.  
  
Being the resident investigative journalist of Smallville High, Chloe was always after one thing or another, following the links between the strange happenings in the town and the meteor rocks that had crashed into the town some twenty-plus years ago.  
  
The same meteor rocks that brought him to earth. A lot of times, Chloe's investigations almost uncovered the truth about him, but one way or another, Chloe was always led to something else.  
  
And here he was, following a dream that sprouted from the fascination with an old friend's passion for investigative journalism.  
  
Clark is directed by the lobby assistant of the Planet to the top floor, where he was to meet with Mister Perry White, editor-in-chief of the Planet and also known as a hard-nosed reporter during his time. The thought of having the editor-in-chief, someone whom he had met in his days in Metropolis, himself meeting and interviewing him sent a chill through Clark's back. Well, at least they think you're THAT good, he thought as he tried to convince himself that it was not too big a deal.  
  
As the elevator doors open to the main office, Clark bumps into a young lady who was too engrossed in the papers she had in front of her. Clark recognizes the face that merely glanced at him, whispering a curse, before picking up the papers that she dropped.  
  
"Chloe. It's really you."  
  
Chloe look up from the papers that Clark is helping her pick up from the floor, and the anger on her face suddenly changes to a look of familiar cheerfulness, one that Clark was accustomed to seeing during the time they were all still together in Smallville. "Clark Kent! Oh my! You're here!"  
  
"Yeah, I'm... I'm applying for a job here." Clark could feel the sides of his neck start to burn up. He did not want to point out that he had finished the course earlier than others, more so than one of his closest friends from his old hometown.  
  
"Oh, really. Wow. Good luck." Chloe had a thoughtful look on her face, as if trying to catch what Clark really meant.  
  
Noticing this, Clark tries to divert attention. "So, how is my favorite investigative journalist from Smallville High?"  
  
Chloe's face changes from quizzical to dejected. "I... uh, I'm fine. I'm still... adjusting." Chloe bites her lower lip the way Clark remembers her doing when she felt awkward. "I didn't recognize you with the eyeglasses," she says. "Since when did Clark Kent start wearing bifocals? I haven't seen you wearing them in years!"  
  
"Oh... it's from all the reading I did in college..." the last words slipped out of Clark's mouth without him thinking about it. Immediately after was the regret of saying them and the hope that Chloe didn't notice what he had just said.  
  
"I suppose you have to do a lot of that if you want to finish college in two years." Chloe said it with a matter-of-factness that caught Clark unaware. Now he was sporting the quizzical look. "Oh, come on, Clark. I work in one of the best, if not THE best newspapers in the country. Do you think that the news of a certain young man from Smallville finishing college at NJU in two years would slip by me?" Chloe's smile betrayed her, as Clark saw the disappointment that was in her quivering eyes.  
  
"I got lucky, I guess," Clark felt as if his interview with White had already started.  
  
"Oh, don't be too modest, Clark Kent. I've known you since we were kids and, even though we haven't seen each other in two years, doesn't mean I don't get news about you through your mom."  
  
"I guess you're right..." Clark could only manage a smile.  
  
"You know what, if you're going to bring that farmboy attitude to your job interview, you aren't going to get the job. You have to be confident of your accomplishments. That'll bring a twinkle in the eyes of Mr. White."  
  
Clark felt his face turn a shade redder.  
  
"I was sent to meet you downstairs to bring you to Mister White, Clark."  
  
"Oh. Okay."  
  
"Now get in there and show him what great investigative journalists people from Smallville make." Chloe gave him a slight push towards the office of Mister Perry White.  
  
When Clark looked back at Chloe, she was motioning him to go on into the office of Mr. White.  
  
He can still remember how Perry White almost did an expose on him back when he visited Smallville. Back then, the current editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet, the most respected newspaper in the country, was a drunk shade of who he became after that visit. That visit to the small hometown of the young Kent and had been a life-changing experience for Mr. White, and he started climbing his way back to the top of the journalism world, and got to where he wanted to be. 


End file.
